Aditya Roy Kapur: How Vidya Balan's brother in-law got his first big break in Bollywood

In Pic: Aditya Roy Kapur

Born on November 16, 1985, to a Punjabi father, Kumud Roy Kapur, and an Indian Jewish mother, Salome Aaron, the actor is known for his "chocolate boy" image. Aditya Roy Kapur is the youngest of three siblings - his eldest brother, Siddharth Roy Kapur, is a producer who's married to actress Vidya Balan, and his second brother, Kunaal Roy Kapur, is also an actor.

About Aditya Roy Kapur's early days

It's not just Aditya and his brothers who have entered the film fraternity; Aditya Roy Kapur's grandfather, Raghupat Roy Kapur, was also a film producer. Aditya's maternal grandparents, Sam and Ruby Aaron, were qualified dance teachers who introduced the Samba dance to India.

Born and raised in South Mumbai, Aditya Roy Kapur completed his schooling at G. D. Somani Memorial School in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, where all his siblings studied and where his mother also directed school plays. Subsequently, he graduated from St. Xavier's College.

Aditya Roy Kapur's debut

Aditya Roy Kapur is not a trained actor, though he has taken dance lessons and diction classes to improve his Hindi accent. According to him, he "had no burning ambition to become an actor" and was content with being a VJ until he was called to audition for 'London Dreams'. During his school years, he wanted to be a cricketer but quit cricket coaching classes after the sixth grade.

In an old interview with 'Mid-Day' about his Bollywood debut, Aditya Roy Kapur spoke about bagging his first role in tinsel town: "I was a VJ. That was fun and easy because I just had to be myself. Then I got lucky and bagged a small role in 'London Dreams'. After that, I was in the right place at the right time and got to audition for 'Action Replayy'. Vipul Shah thought that I was perfect to play the role of Akshay and Aishwarya's son. Around the same time, Sanjay Leela Bhansali also called me for 'Guzaarish' and he quite liked me."

After his Bollywood debut with a minor role in Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan's 'London Dreams' (2009), he appeared in a series of movies as a supporting actor - 'Action Replayy' (2010) and 'Guzaarish' (2010) - as well as in the coming-of-age romance 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani' (2013).

Aditya Roy Kapur rose to prominence

Aditya Roy Kapur has shared screen space twice with Aishwarya Rai, in 'Guzaarish' and 'Action Replayy', but he rose to prominence as an actor in 2013 by playing the male lead in the highly successful romantic drama 'Aashiqui 2'.

Aditya then appeared in the romantic comedy 'Daawat-e-Ishq' with Parineeti Chopra, 'Fitoor' with Katrina Kaif, and 'OK Jaanu' featuring Shraddha Kapoor. Although these films did lukewarm business at the box office, his recent web series made him a heartthrob and a crush for many. His latest series, helmed by Sandeep Modi, 'The Night Manager', stars him along with Anil Kapoor, Sobhita Dhulipala, Tillotama Shome, Saswata Chatterjee, and Ravi Behl in lead roles.

Aditya Roy Kapur's ‘The Night Manager'

'The Night Manager' is a 1993 novel by British author John le Carré, who passed away in December 2020. The series is an official Hindi adaptation of le Carré's novel, produced by The Ink Factory and Banijay Asia. The story revolves around the night manager of a luxury hotel, a former soldier, who is recruited by a government espionage organization to infiltrate the inner circle of an arms dealer.